Question about which return time to book for shuttle to IAH

[scoutfinch72]

We return on Carnival Liberty on 12/23 and the itinerary says the ship docks at 8am. Our flight choices were noon or 6:35pm and we had to choose the later one as there is little chance we'd have made the noon flight.

 

Should we choose the 11:30 or 1:30 shuttle back to IAH? I guess the question is would we rather be waiting around at the port or waiting around at the airport? Is there somewhere to leave our luggage and go eat lunch while waiting for the shuttle or should be just take the 11:30 and plan on eating at the airport?